Sunday, December 11, 2016

The Reformation Project: Visiting The Village Church

FLOWER MOUND, Texas, February 2, 2014 -- The Village Church is one of only two visited for this
study in which the main campus is not in a building originally built to be a
church.The church facilities are found
in a strip mall.The church’s portion
has been significantly renovated.After
parking in the busy lot, those attending make their way into a fairly narrow
entry way before making a right turn into the sanctuary.

The worship area is a large, simple auditorium with
beige, theater style seats and carpeting.
A large video screen is located above the stage. On one side of the stage, there are musical
instruments along with a large wooden cross.
There is no podium or pulpit of any kind.

This is the earlier of two morning services – there
had also been two services on Saturday evening.
As the Connections Pastor came on stage to begin, the auditorium
appeared to be about half full. We were
urged to complete a “Connect Card” to help us become more connected with the
church body or receive answers to questions.
This was followed by a videotaped advertisement for an upcoming “Revive
Weekend,” a large scale evangelistic event directed toward middle school and
high school students.

During the announcements, which continued to emphasize
the importance of involvement in a community group, the band and singers came
on stage. As the music began, we were
asked, “How many of you came to get after the Lord?”

The lights were lowered, and the band began to play,
but instead of singing, varied voices read passages of scripture that were also
posted on the video screen. The
scriptures used highlighted various gifts given to believers by virtue of the
work of Christ. The selections and their presentation was well done. This was a moving part of the service. Following
the readings, the band led in a song for congregational singing. The band was loud and the music fervent, but
the lyrics were repetitive and forgettable. With that – at this point the
service is barely 15 minutes old – the first portion of the service is done,
and Pastor Matt Chandler walks to the center of the stage.

Dressed casually and speaking rapidly, Pastor Chandler
began with a largely self-referential account of the church’s history going
back to his calling to the church at age 28.
The church had grown rapidly, and the pastor pointed out, at times to
laughter, that over the years he had encouraged people living more than 20
minutes from the church to attend other congregations closer to their
homes. That counsel had frequently gone
unheeded, but the pastor emphasized that The Village Church had never sought to
create one large church, but that they were more concerned about the expansion
of the church eternal.

From this historical background, the pastor then
talked about plans for their satellite campus in Denton. The elders of the
church had recently voted to release the Denton group so that it could become a
separate church, and church members would be asked in the future to ratify that
vote. Pastor Chandler wanted to
emphasize that this was a change in direction, but it was not a change in the
overall strategic vision of the church.
He also stated that while they might do the same with their other
satellite campuses in the future, that as of now the elders had only addressed
the Denton campus. Other satellite ministries would be considered on a case by
case basis. Thus, while they were
looking at releasing the Denton campus to form as an autonomous church, this
action did not constitute a wholesale rejection of the satellite church model.

Pastor Chandler related these developments to the
twelve week sermon series that he was beginning this morning in the book of
Acts. While the actions with regard to
the Denton campus would be looked at in light of these sermons, the pastor
wanted the congregation to know that his sermon was intended to look well
beyond that single issue. He would not
be talking about what their approach should be to the Denton campus or other
satellites; rather, the series would be addressing the mission of the Village
church.

For the sermon this week, the pastor read the first
eight verses of Acts, but the sermon was designed to be more of an introduction
to the series as a whole than an exposition of these particular verses.
Nonetheless, the pastor gave some helpful principles for understanding Acts,
particularly emphasizing that some of the events described in the book were
prescriptive of what the church should always be doing, while other sections of
the writing were merely descriptive of what happened then and not necessarily
things that we should look for in our churches today. He indicated that he would write further on
his blog about how to tell the difference between descriptive and prescriptive
intent when reading Acts. Focusing on
verse eight, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” he
also provided some helpful discussion on understanding the work of the Spirit
in the lives of individuals. He acknowledged that “covenant members” of the
church had varying understandings of the work of the Spirit, including some who
held charismatic views.

Nonetheless, he
emphasized that the Holy Spirit comes upon or dwells in all who know Christ as
Savior while also noting that at times the Spirit provides periods of increased
delight in God’s assurance to us. He
warned, however, against seeking miracles as a means of attaining spiritual
growth. Arguing that “the supernatural [meaning miraculous events] has never
anchored anyone to long term faithfulness,” he pointed to the experience of
Israel’s unfaithfulness in the aftermath of crossing the Red Sea as evidence of
that principle.

He additionally warned against Christians imagining
that they could manipulate the Spirit, relating the way some erroneously speak
of the Spirit to the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp. Nor does the Spirit
guarantee success as an evidence of God’s blessing. Rather, the Spirit’s power
is related to power to witness to others and for ministry, and it functions to
remind us of Jesus (Jn. 14:26).

Without knowing that the Denton campus would be the
subject of much discussion this morning, I had made plans to attend the 10:45
service there. The facility was crowded on a rainy morning, forcing me to park
down a busy side street. The satellite had its own announcements and music
before showing Pastor Chandler’s sermon live by video. Following the sermon, the campus observed the
Lord’s Supper, which they did using the practice of intinction. Communion was
opened to believers in good standing with any church, but I did not participate
due to what I regard to be an unbiblical practice.